Key Differences between Teaching in Perth and Singapore

I would like to thank you for sharing your thoughts on your blog. Your comments had trigger my own thinking on various issues from different perspectives.

I am a beginning teacher in Singapore. In a couple of your posts, your guest blogger and yourself had shared that there are difference in the Singapore and Australia’s Education system, result oriented versus process oriented in the latter. Your also mentioned that there are quite a few ex-teachers in Perth and you have met some Sg teachers considering to migrate to Australia.

I would like know more about the Australia schools as a workplace. Will you/your contacts who have experience working in both Singapore and Australian schools be able to kindly share their thoughts?

Thank you for spending time to attend to this request. I look forward to read your posts.

Regards,

Vanessa

Hi 'cher.

Perhaps I can share what little I know about Perth schools. I'll like to emphasize Perth, because Australia is just too big to generalise. Unlike the template stamped fashion of neighborhood schools and food court stalls across Singapore, public schools in just Perth alone are run differently among themselves and school culture can vary quite significantly too. Thus, this is not an easy question to answer specifically.

However I can highlight some key differences in general.

Teacher abuse

In Singapore schools, parents are clients. In Perth schools, parents are partners. Small difference, but it creates a butterfly effect on almost every aspect of a teacher's career and working experience. In Perth, professionals are given proper respect. For example in hospitals, there is a strict "No abuse" policy to protect hospital staff from the public. Any patient, visitor or external workers who abuse a staff in the hospital will be shown the door by the security. The customer is not always right.

I would imagine the same respect given to teachers in Perth, at least from my observation. Teachers here may not necessarily agree with me but if we are comparing to the level of respect given to teachers in Singapore, there is a stark contrast. In Singapore, the chances of you getting parents coming up demanding, interrogating and even threatening you is not exactly low. Perhaps, even almost an everyday affair for some. If you are unlucky enough, you get your unflattering photograph posted all over the Internet for putting a nice hair clip on the boy with long hair.

There is plenty of regular communication between parents and teachers here. Feedback is encouraged from both parties. It helps to foster a good relationship in a small community setting.

Holiday, with no fine prints

When you are teaching in a school in Perth, you go for your two weeks or a month school holiday with the children. It is an entitlement. The teachers do not stay back for CCAs (CCA for ghosts?) or whatever extra or special services required by the principal in schools in Singapore.

Classroom size

According to this publication [link] in 2014, the average classroom size in WA are as follow;

19 students in kindergarten

23 students in pre-primary

22 students in years 1 to 3

28 students in years 4 to 7

26 students in years 8 to 10.

I'm not sure what are the classroom size in Singapore these days. So you do the comparison, Venessa. On top of that, there are nearly 800 public schools in WA to cater to Perth's 1.8 million population. Thus, schools are generally small. There are usually 2 classes per level. Schools with 3 classes per level is already considered big here.

The teaching teacher teach

One of the key difference between teaching in both countries are the administration work given to teachers. You will not be expected to head multiple committees, CCAs and what nots. Other minor day-to-day administration work such as collection of money from students, food or logistic matters etc. will be handled by school staff. In a nutshell, you are doing what a teacher should be doing, teaching with minimal distractions. It is not a monkey hunting, talent contest freak show here.

Working hours

Teachers knock off at 3.30-4pm on most days unless something crops up.

Meetings

It varies from school to school but in general they are kept to the minimum and short. 1 meeting per week no longer than 30 mins each session is normal.

Other perks of being small

Some may not see this as an advantage. You know, there are an unbelievably large number of Singaporeans who think Perth is 'boring'. So I am not going to be surprised if teachers in Singapore love the fanfare and hippy hype surrounding their fancy school.

Speech day is a grand affair for even the simplest of school in Singapore. You get performances, percussion and parade. For the branded schools, you even get a wedding dinner after the children happily leave early where the teaching staff mingles with the men-in-white guests of honour attending, reminding the school that the marriage between politics and education must always be strong.

In Perth schools, we call it the Founders Day. Celebrations can be a simple sausage sizzle. A school celebrating their 125th anniversary [link] two years ago by simply sharing a birthday cake and spent the afternoon playing games. Granted the example was a regional school, there is no significant differences for schools in Perth metropolitan.

A close friend of mine revealed that the school principal where her son is enrolled remembers the name of every child in his school.

I've shared my limited knowledge on this with you. Hope the information will go a long way.

1 comment:

1) There is protected time for teachers during the 4 term breaks in the school year, a few days each during that one week in March and in September, two weeks in June, and 3 weeks in December.

During that time, except for scheduled CCA camps and overseas learning journeys / international exchanges, public school teachers go for their extended holidays, many overseas.

2) While classroom numbers of 40 do still exist, teachers often work with smaller classes throughout the day, not just for supplementary afternoon lessons of a handful to a dozen, but also subject classes that are banded into tens or twenties, or with, say, a third of a large class taking Design and Technology, another third taking Food and Nutrition, and the rest taking Art (including Digital Art for niche neighbourhood schools).

3) Besides the permanent full-time teachers and their multiple workloads which you speak of, there are also teachers on partial workload, and adjunct teachers who work only during school terms, and for limited hours daily.

4) Meetings: this week in my current school, we had a 1 hour meeting mid-week with sausage spaghetti announcing the upcoming new PSLE scoring system and Sec 1 admission process, and another 1 hour at week's end which was a health talk on teacher voice care.

"I left the door unlocked so that you can come in because I love you so much."

- Albany, 21/11/2016

Emails 2017

Hi Nix,

I came across your interesting blog and wish to ask on your honest opinion.

Do you think it's a good idea to pay 6 months worth of house rental in advanced to secure a place to stay before we go over. Our situation makes it a little difficult to look for one in Darwin with 2 dogs that we couldn't leave behind. And we don't have a job there yet. Oh, we have gotten a 489 visa. And we are intending to move somewhere in June with our 2 dogs and an almost 2 year old kid.

Appreciate your intake on this.

Thanks a lot!

Hi Elaine,

The housing market is currently quite depressed so it should not be difficult to find rental properties. I don't think it is a good idea to pay 6 months in advance at all. You shouldn't find it a problem to get one. If you face any difficulties, let me know the details and see if I can give you ideas.

Hi,

Saw your blog while searching on Singaporean based overseas and hopeful can meet a bunch of you all if i ever go over eventually.

For myself after looking at migrating or completing the process before i do not have enough points to qualify.

Basing on my current situation, it seems since my CV is leaning towards the marketing and financial field. Which in this case seems only Adelaide and Darwin is the only option for Subclass 190.

Do you know any fellow Singaporeans based in either place?

Anyway, for me is more towards wanting a more laid back life and changing the environment. Ideal situation would be to work another 10 years before settling with a small farm land in the country in Aussie. But my worry is whether i would be able to secure a job in Aussie especially with my advance in age 38?

Lastly, any good advice for a frog in the well on his migration journey to aussie?

Many thanks in advance

Regards

Stanley

Hi Stanley,

If you cannot qualify for skilled migration on points, you will not be able to work here, unless you find an employer who is willing to hire you for your skill set and apply for a work visa for you. It is unlikely in this economic climate but may be your only chance.

Dear NIx,

Good day!

I have been reading your blog and decided to migrate to Australia.

I have been researching on how to go about migrating to Australia and unfortunately, I seem to have hit a road block, thus writing this email to seek your advice on which type of visa should i apply.

I will be turning 36 next year. BE Chemical Engineering from UNSW (Stayed in Sydney for 2.5 years and graduated in 2008). Msc in Maritime Studies from NTU (Graduating in June 2017). Currently working as a Business Development Manager in the Shipping Industry. I have also attached my CV for your reference.

I am confident of getting 60 points in the Points Test BUT my current job is not on the SOL list.

My mother's cousin is a PR in Australia and she and her family are living in Perth (I do not know whether this information helps)

I was thinking of taking part time courses in ITE in Electrical Wiring, Residential Plumbing or Air Conditioning and Refrigeration since these jobs are on the SOL list.

Any advice will be really appreciated.

Regards,

Colin Soh

Dear Colin,

First thing first, I would like to know how you qualify for 60 points in the Points Test. Will you be able to provide a breakdown ?

*Please note that if your occupation is not on the SOL, you will not be able to claim points for work experience nor academic qualifications.

Hey buddy!

Was scrolling through and landed on your site. Loved the Art of Survival; plain, blunt yet simple.

I'm a local Sporean dude and just got my PR. Currently workin on contract job and planning to move down under. I realise getting a job in Oz from Spore isn't gonna be easy. Thought of giving it a try since its been just a month. Plan B is to just move and get an unpaid internship for 3 mths. Any advise?

Kind regards,

Hi dude,

To be honest, I don't have a single clue about unpaid internship or anything like that. If you manage to get one of those, I will appreciate if you can let us know the details so we can all learn from you.

I apologise for being painfully obvious but if you find it hard to find a job in Australia from Singapore, then come here and look!

Hello,

My name is Adam and I cam across your blog about migrating to Australia. I would love some advice or experience that you can share with me with regards to my questions.

First of all, I am a US bachelor grad in Mechanical Engineering and worked in the US for 2.5 years. I am a Chinese Malaysian and I'm 25 years old by March (2017). Do you have any ideas or suggestions on migrating to Australia? The subclass 189 doesn't allow me to accumulate enough points because of my work experience did not meet the requirement of 3 years which I was told that usually the Australia immigration officer pay the most attention to. If you disagree with that statement, I would like to hear your advice on that.

The other way I thought is by studying my Masters degree there and while studying, I could think of an idea to set up a business there. Didn't research much into this path but if you have experience with this path, I appreciate a lot if you are willing to share.

Thank you very much and hope to hear from you soon,

Regards,

Adam

Hi Adam,

It sounds really simple. Choose the path of least resistance. Work for 3 years to gain your 60 points then! You'll need the funds to relocate anyway.